The most useful questions to ask an estate planning attorney go well past “do I need a will?” They cover who makes decisions if you can’t, whether the beneficiaries named on your retirement accounts actually match your intentions, how a trust would fit your situation, and how the 2026 federal estate tax exemption of $15 million per person affects your family. Walking in with specific questions turns a vague consultation into a concrete plan.
Start With Questions About the Attorney
Before you talk about documents, vet the person. Ask how much of their practice is estate planning specifically, and whether they hold board certifications or advanced credentials in the field. An attorney who handles estate plans as a sideline to another practice area brings a different skill set than one who does nothing else. If your situation involves a business, a blended family, or assets in more than one state, ask whether they’ve handled those scenarios before.
Get the fee structure in writing. Some attorneys charge a flat fee for a standard package; others bill hourly. A basic will from an attorney typically costs a few hundred to around $1,500. A full plan with a trust, powers of attorney, and advance healthcare directives often runs $2,000 to $5,000 or more depending on complexity and location. Hourly rates for estate planning attorneys generally range from roughly $160 to $400 per hour. Ask what the quoted price includes and what triggers additional charges.
Ask about process too. How long from first meeting to signed documents? How will they communicate — email, phone, a client portal? What happens when you need changes later? Some attorneys build a follow-up review into the initial fee. Others charge separately for every amendment.
Which Documents Should Your Plan Include?
A complete plan is more than a will. Ask the attorney which of these your situation calls for, because skipping one can leave a gap that costs your family time and money.
Will
A last will and testament names who receives your property, designates an executor, and appoints guardians for minor children. Without one, state law decides all three. Ask how a will interacts with assets that pass outside of it, like retirement accounts and life insurance. That interaction trips up more families than almost anything else.
Financial and Healthcare Powers of Attorney
A financial power of attorney authorizes someone you trust to handle money matters if you can’t. A durable one stays effective after you become incapacitated, which is exactly when you need it.1Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. What Is a Power of Attorney (POA)? A separate healthcare power of attorney authorizes someone to make medical decisions on your behalf. Without these, your family has to go to court for the authority to act for you.
Advance Healthcare Directive
Sometimes called a living will, this records your preferences for medical treatment when you cannot speak for yourself, including whether you want life-sustaining treatment or tube feeding in a terminal situation.2National Institute on Aging. Advance Care Planning – Advance Directives for Health Care Ask about your state’s specific requirements. The format and terminology vary; some states use “living will,” others “medical directive” or “healthcare proxy.”
HIPAA Authorization
This is the one people most often overlook. Federal privacy law prevents doctors and hospitals from sharing medical information with family members without written authorization. Even your healthcare agent can hit delays without a standalone HIPAA release. Ask the attorney to include one and name everyone who might need to coordinate your care.
Letter of Intent
Not legally binding, but it gives executors and trustees context the legal documents can’t. You might explain why you structured distributions a certain way, or how you’d like a trustee to evaluate requests from a beneficiary. Ask where to keep it and how to make sure the right people know it exists.
Does Your Situation Call for a Trust?
A trust is not only for the wealthy, and this is one of the most productive questions to raise. A revocable living trust lets you transfer assets into the trust while keeping full control during your lifetime; you can change the terms, add or remove property, or dissolve it. The tradeoff is that assets in a revocable trust are still yours for estate tax purposes. An irrevocable trust removes assets from your taxable estate but generally can’t be changed without beneficiary consent.
The main practical advantage of a revocable trust is avoiding probate. Property held in trust passes directly to your beneficiaries without going through court, which saves time and keeps your affairs private. Probate filing fees alone typically run several hundred dollars, and attorney fees on top can be substantial.
Here’s the part that catches people off guard. Creating a trust document does nothing by itself. You have to transfer assets into it, a process attorneys call funding. Real estate requires a new recorded deed. Bank and investment accounts need to be retitled in the trust’s name. If you create a trust but never fund it, those assets go through probate anyway, defeating the point. Ask exactly which assets should go into the trust, which should stay out, and who handles the retitling. Some attorneys do it for you; others hand you a list of instructions.
Do My Beneficiary Designations Match My Will?
This is the question most people forget to ask, and it is where estate plans quietly fall apart.
They often don’t match, and the beneficiary designation wins. Under federal law, retirement plan administrators must pay benefits to whoever is named on the plan’s beneficiary form, regardless of what your will says. The Supreme Court has reinforced this repeatedly, holding that plans may rely only on the plan documents and beneficiary designation forms, not on divorce decrees, wills, or side agreements.3U.S. Department of Labor. Current Challenges and Best Practices Concerning Beneficiary Designations in Retirement and Life Insurance Plans The same logic applies to federal life insurance: a named beneficiary receives the proceeds even where state law would redirect them.4Justia US Supreme Court. Hillman v Maretta, 569 US 483 (2013)
The classic disaster: you divorce, remarry, update your will to leave everything to your new spouse, but forget to change the beneficiary on your 401(k). Your ex gets the retirement account. Ask the attorney to review every beneficiary designation you have — 401(k)s, IRAs, life insurance policies, annuities, and payable-on-death bank accounts. Bring current statements showing the named beneficiaries. This single conversation prevents more unintended outcomes than almost any other part of estate planning.
Tax Questions Worth Raising
Federal Estate Tax and Portability
Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed in July 2025, the federal estate and gift tax exemption rose to $15 million per individual in 2026, with married couples able to transfer up to $30 million free of federal estate tax.5Internal Revenue Service. One Big Beautiful Bill Provisions The 40% federal rate still applies above the exemption. Unlike the temporary increase under the 2017 tax law, this higher exemption is permanent and will adjust annually for inflation starting in 2027.
If you’re married, ask about portability. When the first spouse dies, the surviving spouse can claim the deceased spouse’s unused exemption, but only if the estate files a federal estate tax return (Form 706) and makes the portability election, even when no tax is owed. The standard filing deadline is nine months after the date of death. For estates below the filing threshold, the IRS offers a simplified method that extends the deadline to five years from the date of death.6Internal Revenue Service. Frequently Asked Questions on Estate Taxes Missing this deadline can mean losing millions of dollars in tax-free transfer capacity. It is one of the most expensive administrative mistakes in estate planning.
State Estate and Inheritance Taxes
Even if your estate falls well below the federal threshold, your state may impose its own tax. Twelve states and the District of Columbia impose estate taxes, and five states levy inheritance taxes, with one state imposing both.7Tax Foundation. Estate and Inheritance Taxes by State, 2025 State exemptions are often far lower than the federal amount; some start as low as $1 million. Ask whether your state has an estate or inheritance tax and at what threshold it kicks in. If you own property in more than one state, each state may claim taxing authority over the real estate located there.
How Does the Plan Handle Digital Assets?
Ask how your plan handles digital property. Cryptocurrency, online business accounts, domain names, and even social media profiles with commercial value can be difficult or impossible for your family to access without advance planning. Most states have adopted some version of the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, which gives executors and trustees a legal framework for managing digital accounts.8Uniform Law Commission. Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, Revised But the law only works if your executor knows the accounts exist and can get into them.
Build an inventory covering online banking and investment accounts, email, cryptocurrency wallets and private keys, cloud storage, subscriptions, websites or blogs you maintain, and any online marketplace stores. Store it securely and tell your executor or trustee where to find it. Ask whether your power of attorney and trust include language broad enough to cover digital assets; older templates often don’t.
What to Bring to the First Meeting
The more complete your information, the more productive the consultation. Clients who arrive prepared get more out of the meeting and avoid paying for follow-up sessions to collect missing details.
- Asset inventory: real estate with approximate values and how title is held, bank and investment accounts, retirement accounts, life insurance with death benefit amounts, and valuable personal property.
- Beneficiary information: current beneficiary designations on every retirement account, life insurance policy, annuity, and payable-on-death account. Bring the actual statements; don’t guess.
- Debts and liabilities: mortgages, car loans, student loans, credit card balances, and any personal debts or guarantees.
- Family details: full names, dates of birth, and contact information for your spouse, children, stepchildren, and anyone you’re considering as a beneficiary, guardian, executor, or trustee.
- Existing documents: prior wills, trusts, powers of attorney, or prenuptial agreements, even if outdated.
- Business interests: ownership structure, partnership agreements, buy-sell agreements, and approximate value of any business you own in whole or in part.
If you have strong preferences about guardianship, charitable giving, or distributing assets over time rather than in a lump sum, write them down beforehand. Having your goals on paper keeps the conversation focused.
How Often Should the Plan Be Reviewed?
Ask how often to schedule a review. Every three to five years is a common recommendation, and certain life events should trigger an immediate update: marriage, divorce, the birth of a child, the death of a named beneficiary, a significant change in assets, or a move to another state.
Inherited Retirement Accounts and the 10-Year Rule
If your plan names non-spouse beneficiaries on retirement accounts, ask about the 10-year distribution rule. For account owners who died after December 31, 2019, most non-spouse beneficiaries must withdraw the entire balance within 10 years of the owner’s death. If the original owner had already reached the age when required minimum distributions begin, the beneficiary must also take annual distributions during that 10-year window.9Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Plan and IRA Required Minimum Distributions FAQs Exceptions apply for a surviving spouse, a minor child of the account owner, a disabled or chronically ill beneficiary, and a beneficiary who is not more than 10 years younger than the original owner. These rules can meaningfully change the tax burden on your heirs, and they’re worth discussing even if the accounts were set up years ago.
How Changes Get Made
Ask how changes are made to each document. Wills are typically updated through a formal amendment called a codicil or by drafting a new will entirely. Trust amendments follow their own process depending on whether the trust is revocable or irrevocable. Find out the cost of routine updates so minor changes don’t get postponed indefinitely. And make sure your executor, trustee, and healthcare agents know they’ve been named, understand what the role involves, and know where to find the original documents. A plan nobody can find when it’s needed is no plan at all.